FIA F1 - Hamilton Tops Wet Second Practice

Silverstone, Jul. 6, 2012: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton gave the spectators a boost at a wet Silverstone on Friday afternoon as he set the fastest time in Practice Two, just edging out session-long pacesetter, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi. Hamilton lapped in 1m 56.345s, just faster than Romain Grosjean’s best time of 1m 56.552s in the Lotus from the morning, and 0.129s faster than the Kobayashi’s 1m 56.474s.

Behind them, Michael Schumacher made a late charge for Mercedes to take third with 1m 56.545s, with team mate Nico Rosberg again shadowing him with 1m 56.567s. Sergio Perez was fifth in the second Sauber on 1m 57.493s, with Jenson Button giving himself a fillip with sixth best time of 1m 57.948s in the second McLaren.

Heikki Kovalainen gave Caterham something to smile about with seventh on 1m 58.580s ahead of Lotus’s sole runner Kimi Raikkonen on 1m 58.897s. Grosjean stayed in the garage to conserve his tyres in this session.

Nico Hulkenberg was the faster Force India runner on 1m 58.943s after sitting it out in the morning, while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was 10th on 1m 59.015s before removing his F2012’s front wing with an off right at the end.

Force India’s Paul di Resta shadowed Hulkenberg in 11th place on 1m 59.429s, ahead of Pastor Maldonado on 1m 59.472s for Williams, then came Sebastian Vettel down in 13th for Red Bull on 1m 59.476s. Team mate Mark Webber didn’t set a time. Jean-Eric Vergne was 14th for Toro Rosso on 1m 59.854s, whilst his team mate, Daniel Ricciardo, also didn’t set a time.

Felipe Massa was 14th on 2m 00.565s in the second Ferrari, ahead of Timo Glock’s Marussia on 2m 00.820s, Bruno Senna’s Williams on 2m 01.099s, Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham on 2m 01.348s, Charles Pic’s Marussia on 2m 03.719s and Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT on 2m 04.774s. Team mate Pedro de la Rosa kept his F112 in the garage.

The session was red-flagged for 10 minutes after Senna lost control of his Williams and crashed head-on into the tyre wall after going straight on at the fast Chapel corner, which leads on to the Hangar Straight. The Brazilian was unharmed but his FW34 sustained heavy damage.